Its reading time!
by Fangirlsince2000
Summary: A new greek force is soon coming to take over manhattan. Its up to our fav. avengers, spiderman and his team, PJO and HOO heroes to save the day. But to understand these demigods, they read the lightning thief! Contains mainly percabeth and slight clintasha as well. Rate and review!
1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day for the avengers. A very boring one for that matter. With a whole war over there was nothing much to do. Which was soon interrupted one day when a group of teenagers dropped in- literally, dropped in.

They were all in their rooms at the mansion when they heard a crash and a couple of yells in the hallway. They rushed down to find a couple of teenagers on top of each other.

"Get off me Nico-"

"My foot!"

"Ouch! My hand!"

At any rate they untangled themselves and stood up awkwardly. They looked around them in surprise.

"Where on earth are we?" A blond girl asked. She looked almost like a stereotypical Californian blonde except her eyes were grey, beautiful and dangerous. "Nico, where did you shadow travel us to?"

A boy answered, "Not my idea! It's probably Hera's plan."

Thor suddenly asked, "Children, who are you? Where have you come from?"

Another boy said, "We're coming from Manhattan. About who we are and how we got here, it's a long story you wouldn't-"

The blonde girl suddenly exclaimed, "Hold on a sec. Aren't you Thor the Norse God of thunder?"

Thor suddenly recognized her. "Ah yes. Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena. A pleasure to meet you again."

Hawkeye looked surprised. "What do you mean by daughter of Athena?"

Thor explained the existence of Greek and Roman gods and demigods quickly & in return told the teens where they were.

The demigods were amazed at this. One boy suddenly said, "Dude, you're Tony Stark, the iron man? That's so cool! The entire Hephaestus cabin's your fan!" (Tony looked pleased at this.)

Another blond boy looked at Hawkeye in awe. "You're _the_ Hawkeye? The entire Apollo cabin adores you!"

"So does the Aphrodite cabin." A pretty brown haired girl with kaleidoscopic eyes said. "I swear, one time the entire cabin went gaga over your poster. Each wanted it for themselves so much that they tore it in the process of pulling it."

"Could you please introduce yourselves?" Natasha asked. "It would be better." They nodded. A boy with sea-green eyes came first.

"Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, god of the seas. Please, call me Percy."

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, goddess of Wisdom."

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, king of the gods."

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades, god of the underworld."

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

"Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love & beauty."

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, the god of fire and forging stuff."

"Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus."

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, god of war."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

"Connor and Travis Stoll, sons of Hermes, god of travellers, medicines, thieves, etc."

"Katie Gardnire, daughter of Demeter, goddess of farming."

"Will Solace, son of Apollo, god of the sun, healing, music, etc."

"What's that?" Captain America asked pointing to a bundle on the floor. They saw a note attached to it. The note read:

_Dear avengers,_

_By now you know that Greek and Roman gods exist. If not, well, they do. Ask Thor if you don't believe me._

_There's an evil, Greek force that's out to destroy Manhattan. To fight them you'll need the help of these demigods here. To understand them, read these books I have sent you (courtesy of the lady Hera)._

_Fury._

_P.S. The stories should also be heard by Spiderman and his team. Do you understand?_

Tony sighed as he called Spiderman, Iron Fist, Power Man, White Tiger & Nova to Avenger's mansion after a lot of explanations. They soon came. After many intros, Tony picked up the 1st book from the bundle.

It read "**Percy Jackson and The Lightning thief**."

"A book about you Perce?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, about my 1st quest." Percy said. So, who'll read the 1st chapter?"

"I'll do it!" Nova said, grabbing the book.


	2. I accidentally vapourize my pre-algebra

"**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**" Nova read.

Thalia sniggered. "Nice way to make a first impression Perce."

"Shut it Thals. Nova, continue please."

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

All demigods nodded, knowing the feeling.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: **

"Wow kelp head, you're actually giving away advice!" Nico said.

"Why do you call him Kelp Head?" Black widow asked.

Annabeth answered, "Percy can act real stupid sometimes. So we call him Kelp head/Seaweed Brain."

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That's smart!" Jason said.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

The demigods nodded solemnly at this. The avengers and Spiderman and co. looked at each other with the same thought _What have they gone through? _

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"_They_?" Captain America asked.

"I meant Monsters."

"Oh."

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Ah, the narrator reveals himself now!" Spiderman said.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes, yes you are." All demigods except for Percy and Annabeth said.

**Yeah. You could say that. **

"He even agrees with us!" Clarisse snickered.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Sounds like torture, Jackson." Tony shuddered.

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"Big hopes, from you seaweed brain?" Nico asked.

"Shut up, death breath."

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"You slept in class?" Annabeth asked skeptically.

Percy meekly nodded.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"That's a hopeless thought Perce. Trouble always finds you." Thalia said.

**Boy was I wrong.**

"See?" She said. "I told you so."

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Hawkeye was having difficulty in controlling his laughter. Everyone else was chuckling as well.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

Everybody was howling with laughter by now. Nova could barely breathe before he finally stopped laughing.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.** **All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Percy gritted his teeth at this.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Grover won't like that description of himself Perce." Will said.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Wow, he must really love enchiladas." Power man said whistling.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Harsh." Iron Fist said.

Percy said, "You have no idea."

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"DO IT!" Hawkeye, Iron man and Spider man yelled.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

Hawkeye, Iron man and Spider man groaned in disappointment.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Tsk, tsk." Connor and Travis said. "Why so pessimistic Percy?"

"Can someone make them shut up?" Percy asked.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

Annabeth had a wistful look on her face. "I'd like to see that museum someday."

"I'll take you there soon." Percy told her. "Consider it a date."

"Aaaaw!" White tiger, Black widow, Katie, Silena and Piper said.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides.**

**I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

_Alecto_, Nico thought.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

"Aren't you exaggerating man?" Spiderman and Leo asked together.

"No, no I'm not."

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"We all know Nico is devil's spawn." Clarisse said.

Everybody laughed as Nico yelled "HEY!"

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Ironic Percy, how for once you were right." Thalia said.

"I have my moments." Percy smugly replied.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did." Annabeth and Thalia said.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

All the demigods shuddered at this point.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"GOD?!" The rest of the half-bloods yelled.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

"Mega yuck!" Spiderman and his team & the avengers said.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"You just summarized centuries of battle into a few simple sentences Percy Jackson." Thor observed.

"At least he got it right." Thalia and Nico said. "And there really is no other way to shorten it."

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"BUSTED!"

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Typical seaweed brain answer." Annabeth commented, kissing Percy.

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"How is that a happy note?" Nova asked

…

"Thanks for the answer guys."

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"When are guys not doofuses?" Ava asked.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"He must have." Captain America said.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

Hulk snickered. "Fish boy answers so funny."

Percy said, "Dude, don't call me fish boy."

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important.**

**I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's for the best Percy." Annabeth said to him.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Why all this roman stuff?" Hawkeye asked.

"Probably because it was Latin class." Jason answered.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He must have been there."

"Shut up Nico."

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Zeus and Poseidon were fighting." Beckendorf said shuddering. All half- bloods nodded.

"Over what?" Power man asked.

"You'll see."

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"Is she mortal?" The Stolls asked worriedly.

"NO. She isn't a demigod either." Percy said much to their relief.

"What is she?" Black widow asked.

"Wait and watch."

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"You're neither a loser nor a freak, seaweed brain." Annabeth said.

"That's right." Frank and Hazel said. "You're a hero."

Percy blushed.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Really? We had no idea." Nico sarcastically said.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone laughed.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

Percy fondly smiled.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"I've got to get a blueprint of that." Leo whistled.

"I've got it." Beckendorf said, much to Leo's delight.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Every demigod looked murderously at the book.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

Anyone sitting next to Percy (except Annabeth) suddenly inched away.

Thor looked impressed. "Poseidon was not exaggerating about your powers Perseus."

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes,**

Percy gulped. "Oh dear."

**as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"Never try to guess your punishment Perce." Nico said. "Teachers will only make it worse."

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"I told you so!"

"Shut up Nico!"

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"That is a good friend that you have Percy." Iron fist said.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

All demigods shuddered.

"Percy can be scary with that look." Nico said. The avengers and Team Spiderman looked slightly uneasy at this remark.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there.**

**She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Apparently it wasn't." Percy mumbled.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Oh boy." Percy flinched at the memory.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again.**

"That lady is really creepy." Falcon said in hushed tones.

**She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Okay, mega creepy."

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Nico and Percy really started to pale now.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

This eased the tension. Thalia and Nico made everyone laugh by saying, "Typical Percy answer."

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

Nico face palmed himself. "Percy, were you born this dumb?"

"Is anything wrong?" Black Widow asked.

"No. Just Percy." Nico said.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

"To get yourself killed?" Connor and Travis asked.

"Shut up guys!"

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

All demigods realized what was happening by then and paled.

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever**

**reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"The worst thing that can happen to you is reading a book?" Will asked him skeptically.

"I'm dyslexic!" Percy whined.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"FURY!" All demigods yelled.

"Nick Fury?!" Big guess who said that.

"The monster Fury!"

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"My sword riptide." Percy proudly stated.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

"'_Die honey'_?" Thalia snickered. Everyone laughed weakly.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Of all the magic things that could harm you Jackson, you could only think of mushrooms?" White Tiger skeptically asked.

"I didn't have anything better." Percy sheepishly said.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher**_**. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

"What happened to her?" Nova asked.

Katie said, "It was the mist."

Travis said, "Clever, Katie-kat."

"Don't call me Katie-kat."

"You know you love it."

"No I don't." She said, blushing.

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Grover is such a terrible liar." Thalia said amused.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"Liar." Hawkeye said.

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

"End of chapter 1!" Nova said. "Who'll read the next chapter?"

"Me now!" Black Widow said and grabbed the book.


	3. THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH

Suddenly a flash appeared. When it was gone, 2 people got up.

"Grover? Rachel?" Annabeth asked in disbelief.

"Who's Rachel?" Falcon asked in confusion.

"I am the oracle of Camp half blood." Rachel said. "Where are we?"

After a few explanations Grover and Rachel sat down to hear the rest of the story.

"**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH.**" Natasha read.

_The fates, _all demigods thought.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"What a wonderful thin, the mist." Thalia grinned.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"Well, Percy…" Nico said but was interrupted by Percy.

"The next person who calls me 'Psycho' will have Riptide sticking up his-"

"We get it!" Everyone said hurriedly.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

Almost.

Many people were making bets now.

Spiderman challenged Nova. "I bet 10 bucks it's Grover."

Nova said "You're on!"

Connor and Travis made a bet of 50 drachmas for Grover against Leo.

**But Grover couldn't fool me. **

All losers paid the winners their due.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"You really stink at lying man." Percy told a sheepish looking Grover.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"I remember seeing that in the news." Spiderman said.

"Poseidon and Zeus must have been seriously fighting too much." Captain America said.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.**

Everyone chuckled.

"Only you Perce. Only you." Will said.

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. **

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Paul's really nice Percy." Annabeth said surprised.

"Not him."

"Then who?"

"Just see."

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"Thanks Percy." Grover smiled at his best friend.

"Any time G-man."

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"He at least studied something." Jason said.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good boy." Annabeth said.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.**

"WHAT?!"

"Relax Annabeth, I got frustrated that time!"

"Perseus Jackson, don't you ever do that again!"

"Okay." Percy said in a small voice.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"That's absolute torture." Tony visibly shuddered.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes.I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

"At sword fighting?" Katie asked.

"At stupidity?" Nico joked.

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Wise choice." Iron fist said.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

"OOHH! Percy's evasdropping!" Connor sang.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Pft!"

"Connor I'm warning you.."

"Kidding! Just kidding!"

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Good point." Hawkeye said.

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—"**

"Huh?" All mortals (and Thor) looked confused. Percy said "Wait for it."

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

Thalia comfortingly smiled at Grover. "It was my choice. It wasn't your fault."

"What choice?" Nova asked.

"You'll see."

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Rule no. one Percy." The Stolls said, "Never give away your position!"

Percy asked, "How do you know that?"

"We're sons of Hermes! Duh!"

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Excellent idea." Leo said.

A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

"Okay, what is going on?!" Power man asked.

All demigods and Grover shook their heads.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop**_**, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"Since the what?" Falcon asked.

"Long story." Silena said, shuddering.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"I can read your emotions man." Grover said.

"I know." Percy said.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"Correction: they knew you were in some king of danger." Annabeth said.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,

"3- HOUR LATIN EXAM?! THAT'S TOO MUCH!" Tony yelled.

"Jeez Tony, calm down!" Hawkeye said.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"I hate her!" Everyone said.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"before what?" Nova asked Percy.

"Before monsters found me."

"Oh."

**My eyes stung.**

"He took it the wrong way." Beckendorf said.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy.**

**That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

But I was already gone.

"He also has a short temper." Jason said.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"You're not a nobody!" Annabeth kissed him. "And you're family's not one either!"

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

"That's nice!" White tiger said.

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"I take it back."

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Creepy stalker?" Spiderman asked.

"Percy's protector." Grover snapped.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased.**

**But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Percy!"

"Sorry G-man! Widow, continue."

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"No Percy!" The Stolls said, face-palming. "That's rule no.2!

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

"He's gonna lie!" Thalia said."

**"Oh ... not much. **

"Hah! Told you so!"

**What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

"Grover, someone needs to give you lying lessons." Piper said.

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Even your best friend agrees on that fact."

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"That was harsh." Iron Fist said.

"Sorry Grover." Percy said.

"I'm okay."

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across**

**four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Annabeth looked at Percy. "You saw the fates."

"Yeah."

"AND YOU NEVER EVEN TOLD ME?!" Annabeth started smacking him.

"I-ouch-didn't-ouch-think-ouch-that-ouch-was-ouch-necessary-OOUUCCHH!" Percy said.

Everyone smirked.

Thor said, "Perseus."

"Yes?"

"How are you even alive?"

"Practice makes perfect."

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face.**

**His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny seaweed brain." Annabeth whispered, hugging him.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

"Again I ask," Thor said, "How is it that you're still alive?"

"Luck and Practice." Percy muttered.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment.**

**The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Every single demigod paled.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Much, much worse Percy." Nico shivered.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't.**

**It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

Thalia looked irritated. "It wasn't your fault!"

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"And he escaped from me." Grover sighed.

"You were creeping me out man." Percy said.

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Guys, its 10:00 pm now. We should be sleeping now." Tony said. "We'll give you all guest bedrooms."

"What about my aunt May?" Spiderman asked. Thalia said, "Don't worry. Your aunt thinks you and your team are on a school camping trip. The mist will make her think that." He nodded as they all went to bed.

**And now my fellow readers, rate, review and give me ideas!**


	4. Grover loses his pants

The next morning everybody was in the living room at 8:00 AM sharp. Tony took the book and asked, "Who'd like to read the next chapter?"

"I'm gonna do that." White tiger said and took the book and flipped the pages to chapter 3.

"**GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS.**" She read and snorted. "Are all chapters named this weird?"

"Knowing Percy, yes." Grover said his face red.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"That was rude Perce!"

"You were freaking me out man!"

"Sorry!"

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

Percy suddenly looked at the Stolls who had an innocent look on their faces.

"I've changed my house now so no point getting any ideas!" Percy said, smirking.

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"Best mom in the world!" Percy said.

"Awesome!" Annabeth said.

"Amazing cook!" Nico supplied.

"Very amazing lady!" Thalia said.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,**

"You really must love your mom so much." Spiderman said, fondly thinking of his aunt May.

"Totally." Percy agreed.

**which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"You have to be kidding." Falcon said in disbelief.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

Everyone felt bad for Sally.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

"That's wonderful." Black Widow said.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret.**

**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"That's an understatement man." Nico said.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his****true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Everyone gagged at this point.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

There was an eerie silence.

"No 'welcome back'?" Hawkeye asked.

"No."

"No 'good to see you'?" White Tiger asked.

"Nope."

"No 'How has your life been the last six months'?" Annabeth asked.

"Never."

**That was it. No**_** Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

Connor dramatically said, "Oh dear. You three have got percyjacksonia-which is btw, thinking like kelp head- now. The horror!" Everyone laughed.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

Piper and Silena shuddered. "Not even Aphrodite can make him good looking."

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens,**

"I think I saw that guy once, Percy." Spiderman said. "I'm not sure."

**but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"Did he ever-" Annabeth began.

"Many times." Percy quietly muttered. Annabeth protectively hugged him.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"Gotta love the sarcasm." Thalia said.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"Nice guy." Katie said.

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"Yuck!" All the girls said.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

Everyone looked murderous.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"Mama's boy." Falcon said.

"You're no different." Hawkeye replied.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Lucky!" The Stolls, Tony, Falcon and Leo whined.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

So did everyone else.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"TOTALLY!" Everyone yelled.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

"Don't lie Percy!" Travis seriously said.

Katie asked him, "Travis, are you OK?"

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"Because a Stoll just said not to lie. Seriously."

At first everyone looked confused but realizing the point, started laughing.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"It wouldn't have been to her, seaweed brain." Annabeth said kissing him.

"I know now, wise girl."

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"He must have spent it away on gambling." Black Widow furiously said.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

"We did hear you, you scumbag!" Silena shrieked.

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"CLOTHES BUDGET?!" Silena screamed.

"Smelly man very bad. HULK CRASH!" Hulk shouted.

Hawkeye whistled in surprise. "Now that's new!"

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"You should have done it man." Tony said.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"Does he even have a brain?" White Tiger asked.

"If he does, he'll not miss the sarcasm." Spiderman said.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

"Okay, he doesn't have a brain."

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"Like he'd be the one driving. He was only twelve!" Captain America said angrily.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.**

Captain blushed as everyone laughed.

**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building,**

**I got so mad I did something I can't explain.**

**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

Now everyone was visibly nervous. Thor thought, _this much Power in one so young!_

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

**I loved the place.**

"Didn't Percy take you there once?" Will asked Annabeth.

"Yeah. We stayed there for the week end with his mom _after_ I made him get the spiders out." Annabeth said with a shudder at the word 'spiders'.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

"Wow." Captain America said.

"It's as if her life force is tied to the sea." Danny murmured.

Percy smiled. "That's probably why Dad fell for her."

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"Why all this blue food?" Nova asked

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Yes please." Nova begged.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"So he gets it from Poseidon _and_ his mom!" Thalia said.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

"I miss aunt May." Spiderman wistfully said. "Your mom's so cool."

"So is your aunt." Power man said.

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"What's great about you? Hmm let me see." Thalia said and fired off. "You retrieved the lightning bolt of Zeus, retrieved the golden fleece and saved me and the camp from danger, rescued Artemis, held the weight of the sky, saved the ophitaurus, defeated the titan Kronos, Defeated Gaea, went in and out of Tartaurus alive and saved Olympus from the giants. That's great about you."

There was a stunned silence around the room.

"Whoa." Power man muttered.

"Impressive." Thor said.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

Percy sadly smiled.

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

"Percy!" Rachel scolded him.

"He regrets it." Annabeth reassured her.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"See?"

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy." Beckendorf said.

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy.**

Beckendorf blushed as everyone chuckled.

**But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Why would a Cyclops stalk you?" Nico asked as Percy shrugged.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Whoa." Nico and Thalia looked at Percy in awe. "Only Hercules had done that."

"What hasn't he done?" Tony asked.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"Bad boy." Leo said and got a punch from Percy.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" All demigods yelled.

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"I hate your dreams." Thalia mumbled.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse**

"Poseidon." Percy said.

**and a golden eagle,**

"Zeus." Thalia said.

**were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.**

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

Everyone shivered at this.

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.**

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

Percy and Annabeth's eyes widened at this.

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go !"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"I'm done." White Tiger said.

"We've got to train now." Tony reluctantly said.

"So do we." Spiderman said.

Percy had a suggestion. "Why not we all train together, Tony? Then we can continue reading." The others nodded at the suggestion with a smile.

**To you my dear readers, I'm so sorry for so little Percabeth in this chapter! But the next chapter will have lots of Percabeth, Jasper, Clintasha and slight KatiexTravis and SilenaxBeckendorf. Rate and review!**


	5. Training time!

**Me: I'm so sorry for the delay! School can be so-**

**Hawkeye: Boring?**

**Spiderman: Stupid?**

**White Tiger: Interesting? *Gets stares from everyone* What?**

**Me: 'Frustrating' would be appropriate. Anyway, okay readers! First you'll see how training goes with the demigods, then with Spiderman and his team, then with the Avengers. I am sorry but I'm NOT SHIPPING PETERxAVA. I only ship PETERxMJ. But there's plenty of Clintasha along the way so don't lose hope!**

***Looks at all characters who nod in agreement.***

**White Tiger: Do the disclaimer, book worm.**

**Me: Okay here goes…..DISCLAIMER! I DON'T OWN PJO, ULTIMATE SPIDERMAN OR AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! (This was supposed to be an Avengers AssemblexPercy JacksonxUltimate Spiderman story, but there wasn't the archive for Avengers Assemble, so now it's basically Avengers Assemble in Avengers Mansion of Avengers: Earth's mightiest heroes.)**

_**At the demigod training area**_

"All right demigods, let's split." Percy called out in his leader voice.

The half-bloods grouped into pairs. Percy was with Annabeth (as usual), Beckendorf with Leo, Jason with Nico, Thalia with Will, Connor with Travis, Katie with Clarisse, Silena with Frank and Hazel with Piper. Rachel and Grover sat in a corner of the spacious room that had been allotted as a training room for the demigods.

Percy continued, "Except for Thalia and Will, the rest of us are sword fighting again. Clarisse, _no maiming_. Leo, don't set anyone on fire. Connor and Travis, no pranking. Understood? Thalia, Will, use your weapons on the other side of the room. We're training for 1 hour & then a small break, then back to training for another hour, then back to reading. Ok?" The others nodded.

Percy walked to Annabeth. "Ready to lose, Wise girl?"

"In your dreams, seaweed brain." Annabeth laughed as she pulled out her sword which was only used when necessary. Percy began by swinging his sword in front of her. Annabeth easily ducked it and brought her sword up to defend herself from the next strike Percy sent. They continued like this until Annabeth feinted and pinned Percy to the ground with her sword near his throat.

"I nearly got you." Percy grinned.

"But you didn't!" Annabeth smirked.

Silena was getting better at sword fighting. Frank had to twice struggle as he attempted to avoid the death strikes coming at him. She finally had him pinned to the wall smiling in glory like a war Barbie doll.

Katie was not so great. Every time she tried to strike, Clarisse would defend it. But she was nimble and fast. So Clarisse couldn't pin her. After half an hour though, Clarisse managed to pin her down to the floor.

Connor and Travis were fighting well. Travis was taller, but Connor was much faster. They spent a whole half hour trying to get each other, and finally ended on the floor, swords pointing at each other.

Thalia was shooting arrow after arrow at Will, who kept on running from side to side dodging them as fast as he could and sending back arrows that she avoided. _Gods of Olympus, she's getting better _he thought as he got an arrow pinning him to the wall.

They trained until Percy called out "Break time!" Jason sat next to Piper sweating profusely. Piper asked him, "How's it going?"

"It's better than usual. Nico fights well. It's just, seeing those other heroes, the Avengers and the others."

"Yeah." Piper said. "For mortals, they're pretty powerful. Or so I hear at camp."

Jason grinned, "Remember how Annabeth freaked out after hearing the names 'Black Widow' and 'Spiderman'?"

"Yes. She was all, "Why me Arachane? Why only me?""

Jason smiled. Piper looked amazing in her own special way. She was so good with her sword that he was sure next to Percy, she was the best swordswoman.

"What did you say?" Piper asked. Jason realized he had spoken out aloud that sentence. He repeated himself.

Piper smiled. "Shut up, Sparky." She said and kissed him. Everything suddenly seemed sharper than before. He was vaguely aware of Percy and Annabeth, Hazel and Frank, Silena and Beckendorf and Travis and Katie making out. This continued on and on until a voice said, "SERIOUSLY? GUYS WHY DON'T YOU GET A ROOM OR SOMETHING? AHHH! MY EYES!"

Thalia was glaring at the couples who were blushing furiously. Nico, Connor and Leo were all sniggering.

"Let's get back to training." Percy suggested. Everyone nodded relieved.

_**At the Spiderman and team training area**_

"17." Nova called out as he blasted another robot.

"18, 19, 20." Spider man called out sending 3 robots colliding with each other resulting in an explosion.

"Guys, seriously." White Tiger said as she raked her claws through a robot. "We're training here, not playing a video game!"

"What do you think of the demigod kids?" Power man asked.

"They're cool. Percy, in fact." Spider man said. "Seeing those guys, well, it just makes me wonder what they've gone through."

"What do you mean by that?" Iron Fist said.

"Well, Percy and that girl Anna, Annasomething-"

"Annabeth."

"Yeah, Percy and Annabeth. You ever looked at them, you know, clearly? They look like they just went through hell. Literally. The death boy-what's his name-"

"Nico."

"That guy looks so, so.."

"Intimidating like me?" Nova asked.

"Yeah, somewhat intimidating." Spider man said. "But, you, intimidating? You're about as intimidating as a butterfly."

"Well, you certainly made quite an impression with Annabeth." Nova smirked casually blowing a robot up.

"It's not my fault she's afraid of spiders, bucket head. You can thank Arachane for that." Spider man said.

"The mother of spiders?" Iron Fist asked as he smashed the last of the robots. "That would explain Annabeth's arachnophobia."

They sat down exhausted by the training. Nova suddenly heard a beep on his iPhone and looked at it.

"Someone texted you?" Spiderman asked.

"Yeah." Nova said while rapidly tapping it. Suddenly the iPhone was yanked out of his hands by the web slinger's webbing.

"Hey! Give me back my iPhone!" Nova cried out indignantly. The others looked at it amused.

"Who's Katrina?" Spiderman asked.

"My girl- I mean, uh, my, uh, friend." Nova said while blushing.

"Your girlfriend?" White Tiger snickered. "What did you do to get her to like you?"

"He must have read the book 'Dating for dummies'." Power man chuckled. With that they trained for another hour.

_**At the Avengers training room, exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes later**_

"HEY!" Falcon cried as a shot from Iron Man grazed his shoulders and split a few seams of his costume. "Tony, need I remind you this costume doesn't mend itself easily?"

Tony smirked. "Training's good for you, my dear Falcon. No excuses for dropping out!"

"At least you don't keep losing to a girl." Hawkeye said as he managed to dodge Black Widow's darts. "I think today maybe, I'll break that losing streak."

"Not likely Hawkeye." Black Widow smiled a seductive smile that made Hawkeye's heart beating faster. "You'll never beat me." She said as she shot a rope at his legs that landed him on the floor.

After 15 minutes, Tony said, "Training's over. We're going back to reading now. Avengers, to the living room!"

Iron Man, Captain America, Falcon, Thor and Hulk went out, except for Hawkeye and Widow.

When Natasha poured some bottled water on her head, Clint said while undoing the ropes on his legs, "You remember, Tasha, about what I said about breaking the losing streak?"

Natasha looked at him with a hint of a smile on her face. "Yeah?"

"And you said I'll never be able to beat you." He said awkwardly standing up.

"So?"

"I think you'll have to rephrase that." Clint said suddenly moving towards her. Before Natasha could say or do anything, he'd successfully pinned her to the wall.

"I win." He said, moving his face closer to hers. He was right. She couldn't move anywhere unless he let her go.

"Yes, you do, for once." She said, very aware of the fact their faces were mere inches apart from each other. "But I'm letting you off easy now."

"How are you going to let me off easy?" He smirked.

"Like this." She said and touched her lips to his. The moment she did that, both felt a spark passing through them. She increased the pressure, a bit more and a bit more…

"Um, Hawkeye? Widow?" Falcon's voice came, from the living room. They quickly broke off startled. Hawkeye released her reluctantly. As she turned to look at him, he saw in her eyes there was a look of disappointment, as though she was also reluctant to go. She sent him a look that clearly said _Another time then_.

They walked to the living room together quickly and sat on the loveseat (As that was the only furniture not occupied by anyone else).

"What were you doing there?" Tony asked them.

"Breaking my losing streak." Hawkeye proudly said.

"Deflating his mighty ego." Black Widow said.

"It's reading time now! Who's reading the next chapter?" Tony asked.

"I'll do it." Captain America said, and took the book.

**Sooo, readers, what do you think? Rate, review and give me ideas!**


	6. Mom teaches bullfighting

**First off, I'd like to thank **_**Rosemarydaughterofhades **_**for her review on '**_**Its reading time!' **_**I'm not that great at romance, so I'd also love it if you gave me some really awesome Percabeth, Clintasha, Jasper and Frazel ideas. **

**Disclaimer! I don't own PJO, Ultimate Spiderman or Avengers Assemble! Thank you!**

Steve took the book and read the title, "**My mother teaches me bull fighting**".

Percy suddenly paled. "Oh no."

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Wait and watch, Wise girl." He said and motioned captain America to read.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield.**

**I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

"Shag-carpet pants?" Grover complained. "Really? Was that even necessary?"

"Hey, my thoughts, my rules." Percy smugly said.

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

"Awkwarddddd." Tony said in a sing-song voice.

"Sheesh Tony, get a grip." Natasha said.

**Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said.** (**A/N: I'm Indian, so I'll add some Hindi jokes and comments with translations too! For now all I can say about Percy is ****Iske kismat bahut kharab hai****. (His luck is extremely bad)**)

**"I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?"**

"*Cough* Stalker*Cough*" Thalia said and immediately earned a jab from Grover himself.

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

**"Um ... what are you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

That set everyone sans Grover laughing.

"Donkey? Come on Perce, give me a break!" Grover indignantly said.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty, "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

"You just said it didn't matter." Falcon pointed out.

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"Told ya!"

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

"Oh dear, Percy. Why can't you just-" Thalia begin.

"Don't you dare." Percy glared at her.

"- _Let it go_?" She finished with an evil smirk.

"AAHH!" Percy yelled. "I've had it with these Frozen puns!"

Everyone chuckled at this.

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"GROVER!" The demigods yelled.

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

"Yes Mrs. Jackson, please." Natasha begged. Everyone looked worried now. They all were tensed.

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"That's for the confused and really, really lost mortals." Annabeth said to the Avengers and Team Spidey.

"So, the sign would only make sense for Hawkeye, it seems." Black Widow said.

Everyone laughed as Hawkeye indignantly yelled, "HEY!"

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"Perseus Jackson, you most definitely have a death wish." Thor said, quite exasperated.

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in me. "**

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you. "**

"Shut up, guys. You're giving us girls a headache. I swear, you argue more than bug-brain and bucket head here." White Tiger groaned. The other girls nodded, rubbing their foreheads.

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

"Yes, please, please, please…" Spiderman begged.

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"No, she wanted to give you a hug." Nico sarcastically said.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**BOOM!**_** , and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

"No, you're not." Nico said exasperated.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Percy sarcastically retorted.

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch.**

**Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. **

"Come on Dad! Cut him some slack!" Thalia yelled at the sky.

"Um, Thalia…" Hawkeye began.

"My dad's Zeus, you Dolt!" Thalia snapped, clearing all doubts.

**Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, **_**No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**_

Everyone howled with laughter at this.

"Only you, seaweed brain. Only you." Annabeth laughed, ruffling Percy's hair.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

"Only you Grover. Only you." Tony teased Grover.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

"Oh dear." Will said, paling.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

**"What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

"Excuse me?" Thalia looked murderously at Percy. Steve decided to spare Percy's life and continue reading.

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"You are insanely loyal, Jackson." Captain America said to Percy.

"It's my fatal flaw." He said, somberly.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns...**

"The Minotaur?!" Hawkeye exclaimed in shock. "You got into a fight with the minotaur?"

"Since when did you become the myth master?" Tony stared at him in surprise.

"I got it from a book on Greek and Roman myths belonging to Natasha, okay?" He said. "I thought the book cover looked good."

**"He doesn't want us." my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, **

"_Satyr_." Grover corrected.

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, **

"A bunch of other 'ceps? Percy, were you bitten by a radioactive comedian when you were born?" Nova sniggered.

"No, I wasn't."

**all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear— I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—**

Everyone weakly chuckled at this image. They were too tense now.

**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

"Yuck. Just yuck." Black Widow gagged.

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous** **head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"I wish he wasn't real." Percy mumbled.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

"They still want to badly kill you." Leo mumbled.

"No kidding. Percy's made more immortal enemies than you can count." Will said.

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

"Err, what do you mean by that?" Spiderman asked.

"If you say the name of any immortal, like monsters," Percy explained, "they'll immediately find you."

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows— or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling.**

**I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

"You were in danger, and the only thing you could say was 'Food'?!" Thalia face-palmed herself.

"I was hungry!" Grover muttered.

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

"Oh boy." Percy muttered.

**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops.**

"BUSTED!" Leo, the stolls, Hawkeye, Spiderman, Nova and Falcon yelled.

"SHUT UP!" Silena, Katie, Natasha, White Tiger and Annabeth yelled back.

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"How does she know all this?" Steve asked Percy who shrugged.

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

Every one held their breath now.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

"No, no, no…" Annabeth murmured. A single tear ran down Percy's cheek.

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"NO!" Everyone yelled in horror.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

There was a heavy silence. Then Silena, Piper ,Katie and Hazel broke into sobs.

Percy's eyes brimmed with tears and Annabeth comfortingly whispered into his ears.

The avengers and Spiderman's team looked sadly at Percy. They knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

"And here comes the Percy that you don't want as an enemy!" Nico yelled.

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

"Thanks Percy."

"Anytime, G-man."

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

That eased the tension and sadness a lot. Tony weakly chuckled.

"Seriously, Percy. _Ground Beef_?"

"I didn't have anything better!"

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. **

Steve nodded at the logic in the sentence. _A stupid idea is better than no idea at all, _he thought_. _

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

**How did I do that? **

"Yeah Percy, how the heck did you do that?" Frank asked.

"I have no idea." He said.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

"Ouch." Hulk said.

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

Everyone gagged at the image.

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

Some weak chuckles were heard at this. Everyone was still getting over losing Sally Jackson.

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. **

"You're not that strong, boy. You can't-" A smirking Thor began, but was interrupted by a very surprised Steve.

**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!**

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

"-break its horn." He finished weakly. "That's impossible!"

"Impossible is my middle name." Percy chuckled.

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

"Remind me not to get on his bad side." Tony whispered to Steve.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse.**

**I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

"Always." Percy grinned at Grover.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. **

"OOH, PERCABETH!" The demigods yelled.

"Oh boy." The couple said covering their ears.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

"He is the one, Annabeth. He is." Leo said and got a nice slap from the girl herself.

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"There ends the chapter." Steve said. "Who'll read next?"

"I'm reading." Iron Fist said and took the book. 

**AAAAND, RATE AND REVIEW PPLZ! RATE AND REVIEW!**


	7. Playing pinochle with horses

**DISCLAIMER! I don't own any of these characters! Thank you!**

Iron Fist read, "**I play pinochle with a horse**."

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

"That was weird, even for me." Percy said to Annabeth.

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. **

"Yum." The demigods looked dreamily at the mention of Ambrosia.

**The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"Unfair. This is totally unfair." Hawkeye groaned. "Why hasn't this ever happened to me?"

"Maybe, Clint, you might have your wish fulfilled in the future." Natasha smirked "Emphasis on '_maybe_'.

At that precise moment another flash blinded all of them. When they could see again they saw a blond boy and a dark haired girl awkwardly standing up.

"Reyna? Octavian?!" Hazel and Frank asked .

"Who're you guys?" Tony asked. "And if you must know we already know about the existence of Greek and roman gods."

After some very long explanations, Iron Fist decided to continue.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

"You honestly thought he would know anything?" Thalia asked Annabeth.

"I know. What was I thinking?" She responded.

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear.**

**"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

"Aw, you miss her already!" Silena and Piper cooed.

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest.**

**My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

"Ouch." Reyna winced.

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

"Ah, famous goat boy." Nico said.

Octavian muttered something about stupid Greeks.

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ...**

Percy looked downcast at this. Annabeth sadly smiled at him

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

"What do you mean by 'The Minotaur', Jackson?" Octavian sneered.

"He defeated the Minotaur broke off its horn and lost his mother, Octavian." Reyna reminded him.

"Liar." Octavian scoffed. "That's what all Greeks are."

"Octavian?" Rachel sweetly asked.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

**"Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

"Percy, what is that supposed to mean?" Thalia looked coldly at Percy.

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

"Oh." Thalia looked embarrassed.

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"Grover you're not!" Percy said. "Stop beating yourself up about it!"

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head. **

Grover suddenly looked at the Stolls.

"Someone keep them away from me. They've got that look on their faces!" He shuddered.

"What look?" Nova asked.

"The _I've- got- an- amazing- idea-for- a- prank_ look."

"Oh."

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even Minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever—looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**

"'Protect you?'" Octavian asked.

"We satyrs have jobs." Grover nodded. "We've to look after any half-blood that doesn't know their parentage and bring them to Camp Half- Blood."

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, **

"Now why did you do that?" Steve asked.

**because I was expecting apple juice. **

"Ok, that explains a lot."

**It wasn't that at all. It was** **chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy.**

**My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"Man, I want your mom." Leo whined.

"Sorry, she's mine only!" Percy declared.

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Homemade."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

"What is this drink?" Clint asked.

"Nectar." Leo began, "is a highly awesome drink that gives us super energy that ensures we don't turn into kibbles n'monster bits. It comes in-"

"Leo, shut up." Piper said.

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

"I know how you feel, man." Spiderman said.

"What do you mean?" The Avengers and the demigods, Grover, Rachel and Octavian asked.

"I lost my uncle Ben too. He was killed by a burglar. By the time I got to the jerk that did it, it was too late. Thankfully I didn't kill him. Me and Aunt May never really have gotten over his death till now. It's like a part of us is still missing." He sadly looked at the ground. The demigods felt sorry, knowing how hard it was to get over the fact your loved ones were lost.

The Avengers though looked at him with surprise and sadness.

_Poor kid, _Tony thought.

_And he looked so happy when we saw him_, Captain America thought.

_Guess that's where all the sarcasm comes from_, Hawkeye thought.

_Oh, gods!_, Black Widow thought. _That's unfair and cruel._

_Poor spidey_, the hulk thought.

_Man that's terrible_. Falcon thought.

"Sorry man." Percy kindly said.

"It's ok. Uncle Ben was the sole reason I decided to become a hero. He told me once, _with great power comes great responsibility_. I didn't want anyone else to die because of me so that's why I didn't want to team up with you guys." He said the last part to his team.

"Great words spoken by a great man." White Tiger said. "But you're not the one responsible for our choices Spider. We are."

Tony mentally made a note never to underestimate Spiderman again.

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods.**

**Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"Best Camp in the world." Percy said.

"Camp Jupiter is no less." Hazel pointed out.

"Point taken."

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

"You remember her!" Silena squealed. "Definite sign that you like her!"

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. **

Everyone chuckled at the image.

"It's a perfect description of Mr. D!" Thalia laughed.

"Who's Mr. D?" Tony asked.

"He's-" Thalia began but was interrupted by Nico with a "SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!"

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at** **one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.**

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. **

"Your future girlfriend!" The Stolls sang out.

Katie smacked the both of them on their heads to shut them up.

**She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"What a joyful soul." Spiderman said.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

"I'm still the blonde girl?" Annabeth asked with a pout.

"Correction: You are _my _blond girl." Percy said and kissed her.

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

"GO HERMES!" The Stolls yelled.

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. **

"And by that you mean?" Annabeth asked raising an eyebrow.

"Wait for it." Percy said.

**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"Oh." Annabeth blushed.

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, **_**You killed a minotaur!**_** or **_**Wow, you're so awesome!**_** or something like that.**

"Ego maniac!" Beckendorf laughed.

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

Everyone chuckled at this.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex—Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

"No kidding." Thor said.

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

"Completely off the topic." Natasha sighed.

"No wonder, Tasha." Clint said.

"Don't call me Tasha."

"Ok, Tasha." He grinned at her. She felt a jolt of pleasure every time he called her Tasha.

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

"Yeah, why should he be?" Power man asked.

Thor face-palmed himself in exasperation.

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, **_**sir**_**," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

"The feeling's mutual." Nova agreed.

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**

"How is Gladiator fighting the coolest game in the world? And from where on earth did the concept of Pac-man being cool spring into existence?" Tony cried out exasperated.

"Don't ask." Thalia muttered.

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun—Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.**

Tony scowled at that sentence. _Teachers…_

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

"Orientation film?" Thalia asked.

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

"Oh dear. Thals, you've got percyjacksonia now!" Nico dramatically said.

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"—he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!"**

**He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

"Grover." Thalia shook her head exasperated, "Only you man. Only you."

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God—capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

"Smaller?" Thor boomed.

**"Smaller?"**

"Now I think like Perseus." Thor muttered as everyone else laughed.

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

**And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloudless day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"—I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody—"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

Tony suddenly realized who Mr. D was and grew pale.

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

"Sounds like an amazing offer!" Falcon said.

Thalia shook her head. "That's what mortals always think. Can you imagine living forever and watching your loved ones die?"

Falcon immediately shut up.

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. **

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Percy Jackson controlled his temper for the first time in his life!" The Stolls dramatically said.

"And he didn't destroy the plumbing, thank the gods." Leo mumbled.

**I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

Now _everyone _realized who Mr. D was.

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"For us mostly." Nico said pouting.

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

"No he's Aphrodite." Steve rolled his eyes.

"If Captain America's sarcastic, then the world must have turned upside down." Tony whistled.

"Give it a rest Tony. You're not going to hear much in the future."

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

"Scary." Jason shivered.

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

"When does he ever mind his manners?" Thalia rolled her eyes.

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

"Mount Olympus?!" The mortals (except Rachel) gasped.

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like...in America?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

"Clueless seaweed brain." Annabeth ruffled Percy's hair.

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know—or as I hope you know, since you passed my course—the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps—Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on—but the same forces, the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not—and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome,**

"HEY!" The romans yelled. "Rome's amazing!"

**either—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

"You are Percy Jackson." Nico dramatically said.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible.**

**He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, **

"Velvet underwear?" Spiderman snickered.

**but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"Over." Iron Fist said. "Who'll read now?"

"I am." Leo said and took the book.

**Guys, now I'll update only if I get at least 3 reviews, ok? At any rate, Rate and review!**


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